The five were being chased, Matt decided it was best for them to split up, and while the others weren't too keen on the idea of splitting up they went along with it anyways. Lohan and Scarlett were together with Pedro following them since Matt didn't want him to get lost, Jamie and Scott were together since they were on the same vehicle, and Matt and Richard were partnered up. The three people who were chasing them noticed what they were doing and their leader gave them the order to split up as well and to follow the others while he followed Matt and Richard.

Lohan, Scarlett, and Pedro

Lohan, Scarlett, and Pedro went left, Scarlett and Pedro were the ones driving the snowmobiles while Lohan was checking if they were being followed, that's when he noticed one of Nightrise's people.

"We're being followed!" He shouted.

"What do we do?" Scarlett asked, Scarlett couldn't use her powers at the moment due to the fact that she was the driver and she couldn't lose focus.

Lohan proceeded to observe the area, trying to conjure up a plan, he understood that he'd have to knock the person unconscious but the question was how?

"Lohan, he's catching up!" Pedro shouted with worry in his voice.

The triad looked forward and noticed from afar that there was a branch he could grab onto but he had to time it right, he looked at the distance between them and the man, at that moment he decided to act.

"Let him catch up!"

"Are you insane!"

"Trust me, I know what I'm doing!" Lohan turned his back towards them so he could face the man. "Scarlett I want you to slow down, Pedro you keep going."

They both nod in agreement, Pedro continued with his pace while Scarlett was slowing down a bit. Lohan checked behind him to see how close they were to the branch, he looked back to face the man only to see that he was only a few feet away. Once Lohan was sure he was close enough he jumped from the snowmobile, grabbed the branch, and swung to kick the man off his vehicle, he let go, ran towards the man, and put him in a chokehold before he could comprehend what had just happened. Both Scarlett and Pedro slowed down once they saw Lohan jump off, they were both amazed by what had just happened.

"Holy shit that was amazing, Lohan!" Pedro complimented,

"When we get back home you have to teach me how to do that." Scarlett spoke with a big grin.

"It's best if we bring the snowmobile along with us," Lohan informed as he got on the abandoned vehicle.

"Good idea, that way he won't follow us, right?"

"That and because I like being the driver."

The two teenagers laughed at Lohan's response and started driving away from the man.

Jamie and Scott

Meanwhile, with Scott and Jamie, they were also being followed and they were trying to figure out what to do. Scott felt pressure, he had to make sure they were at a faraway distance from this man or else both he and Jamie would be captured and he didn't want his brother to go through the same thing he went through. That was the whole reason why he dreaded going to Alaska in the first place, he never said anything because he knew the others would just tell him that it would be fine but deep down he knew something would go wrong.

'I'm such an idiot!' He thought to himself.

'Don't say that Scott, you couldn't have known this would happen.' Jamie reassures his brother. 'All we need to do is come up with a plan to get this guy to stop chasing us.'

'Have you tried mind-controlling him?'

'I can't get into his mind, it's like a brick wall is surrounding it.'

Scott was thinking of a way to somehow distract the man or at least get his mind to think of something else. That's when Scott remembered, while they were waiting for Matt, Jamie, and Lohan, Pedro showed Scott how to make a slingshot from his surroundings, he quickly reached into his pocket and grabbed the hand made slingshot.

'Shoot him with this, grab some rocks while you're at.' He responded.

Jamie quickly grabbed some of the rocks from the ground as well as some snow in the process, Scott gave Jamie the slingshot which Jamie then started to aim at the man. He shot the first rock but the man was able to duck before it hit him.

'Shit, I missed!' Jamie thought.

'It's okay, as long as you can distract him you'll be fine.' Scott responded.

Jamie kept hitting the man who was dodging the rocks rather easily, it wasn't until Jamie's 8th shot that he was able to hit the man square on the nose. The man then proceeded to cover his injured nose with his right hand, it was obvious that his nose was bleeding after that. Jamie took the opportunity and started to control the man's mind.

'Stop following us, go back to your boss and tell them you lost us.'

The man froze in place as his face went blank, he then proceeded to turn the other direction, leaving the twins alone.

The twins high five each other as they proceeded to go forward, hoping to find the others.

Matt and Richard

Meanwhile, Matt and Richard were going through the forest, they didn't see anyone follow them but their guards were still up.

"So mind asking me what exactly your plan is?" Richard asked.

"I figured that if we split up we wouldn't have to deal with all three of them, the twins are smart and Lohan is an expert at this so I'm not completely worried about them," Matt explained, holding the journal close to him. "After that, we would regroup and meet up with Vanessa, she said Nathalie would meet with us soon so I was hoping we could give her these notes when she's here."

"Speaking of those notes, are bloody insane!" Richard shouted. "Those notes seem rather valuable to them not to mention that you're one of the five, don't you think it's a bad idea to carry them around?"

"For all its worth they may not even know I'm the one carrying them."

That's when they heard the sound of an engine, they turned to their left to see one of Nightrise's men.

"You really got to stop jinxing yourself." Richard proceeded to speed up,

No matter how fast they went the man kept getting closer and closer by the minute. Matt looked at the man hoping he could use his powers to stop his vehicle, he looked up only to see the man smiling sinisterly, it was similar to the one the figure had in his vision. Matt froze right then in there, realizing that this man was his killer and that he was going to die. Time seemed to stop for Matt, he started to breathe heavily as he stared at him, the Librarian's words echoed in his head.

"You cannot change this."

"I only speak the truth."

"I suggest you all prepare for the worst."

"Matt, What's wrong?" Richard asked

"Keep going! Don't let him catch up!" Matt shouted, if he was going to die then so be it, all that mattered to him was getting Richard away from this man.

The man was getting closer and closer by the minute until they were side by side.

"Give me back the notes and no one gets hurt!" The man shouted, he had a smooth but also intimidating voice.

"You're bloody insane if you think I'm letting you hurt him!" Richard responded to the man, anger was in his voice.

The forest had ended and they were out in the open with just snow surrounding them, there was nowhere else to hide unless they went back, but it was too risky.

"You're a fool you know, both you and that triad friend of yours, protecting children that aren't even yours," The man was trying to get into the journalist's head, he then attempted to get them to lose their balance by bumping into them. "Truly foolish!"

"They may not be my kids but they're my family and I'll do anything to protect them!"

The man smiled once more, he reached into his pocket to grab something. Matt looked at what the man was going to grab and his eyes widen, the man was carrying a knife.

"Even if it means getting killed!" The man slashed Richard across the arm causing him to let go of the handles, their snowmobile ended up crashing into the snow and tossing them off the vehicle.

The man stopped his snowmobile and placed his knife in his pocket, he looked at the two as he took off his hood and goggles to reveal a pair of dark cold eyes. He went towards Matt who was trying to recover from what had just happened, he saw the man looming over him.

"So this is one of our saviors, a mere teenager who can't even get away from one adult ." Before Matt could get up the man proceeded to kick him hard in the stomach, causing Matt to be in great pain. "Pathetic."

He picked Matt up off the ground with his left hand then proceeded to punch Matt in the face which sent the poor boy flying, he landed in the snow in much more pain.

"Leave him alone!" Richard shouted, he injured his leg when he fell off but was attempting to stand up,

"You have no business here, Mr. Cole, this is between me and the child." He responded, he faced Matt as he took out his knife once more. "Nightrise told me to bring you back alive Matthew but I honestly don't feel like keeping you alive, if anything, I feel like your past self is a much more worthy opponent than the person you are now."

Matt tried backing away from the man but he was in too much pain.

"Your past self should be ashamed of who you are, pathetic, weak, a failure, you're nothing."

"Don't listen to him, Matt!" Richard shouted, "He's just trying to get into your head, you know what he's saying isn't true!"

The man smiled at the journalist. "You are aware that the only reason this man is with you is because he's the same as you."

The man's words were affecting Matt, he started doubting himself and thought that maybe he was right, his past self was able to lead a war and defeat the Old ones, what did he ever do.

'I'm nothing.' He thought to himself. 'I can't even save myself.'

This was it, just like his vision, the figure coming towards him, knife in hand, and with a sinister smile, the only difference was that the figure was no longer a shadow but a man with short black hair and cold harden eyes. He was getting closer and closer, Matt was terrified, he was too weak to do anything and like the librarian said, no matter what he did, he couldn't change fate. Matt looked at Richard one last time, the journalist was able to stand up but his eyes widen at what was he was witnessing, tears started forming in Matt's eyes, knowing that this was the last time he would be seeing his friend.

"Say goodbye, Matthew Freeman."

"No!" Richard shouted.

The man brought down the knife, Matt closed his eyes waiting for the knife to hit him.

...

But it never did.

....

He looked up only to witness a horrific sight.

"Richard... No." He whispered.

In front of him was Richard, standing still as the knife pierced through his chest.

"What! How did you-?"

"I-I told you, I would do anything to protect these kids, e-even if I get killed in the process." He stuttered out feeling the overwhelming pain coursing through his body.

The man took the knife out, letting Richard fall to the ground.

"Richard!" Matt shouted as he held the bleeding journalist.

"YOU IDIOT! YOU WOULD SACRIFICE YOUR LIFE FOR THIS WORTHLESS CHILD! YOU FUCKING IDIOT!" The man barked out, anger took over him and he lost his composure.

That was a mistake.

Matt felt a great sense of anger coursing through his body, this man stabbed his closest friend and now he dares to insult not only him but his friend. He couldn't take it anymore...he wanted this man dead.

"You monster." Matt whispered.

"What did you just say to me!"

"YOU MONSTER!" Matt layed Richard down as he charged towards the man.

"What wrong, mad that I killed your little journalist friend, he was worthless person anyways!" The man was mocking him, once the boy was close to him he took the chance to swing his knife but the knife was stopped mid-air. He kept trying to swing it but he couldn't, the knife then started to melt which burned the man's hand, he let the knife go but he was then pushed to the ground by some sort of force. The man looked at Matt with his dark eyes but all he saw was the boy's blue eyes full of hatred and anger.

He started taking out something else from his pocket, he had a gun which he then fired four bullets towards Matt but the bullets were stopped. The bullets were then redirected towards him and before he knew it, he was shot with his own bullets. The man smiled one last time.

"Maybe you are a worthy opponent." And with those last words, the man died on the spot.

Matt calmed down after that, until he remembered Richard who was on the ground bleeding out. He quickly ran to his friend, he got down on his knees and lifted the journalist's head.

"Matt." Richard quietly called out.

"It's going to be okay Richard, I'll call the others and tell them where we are, you're going to be okay." Matt stammered, there was worry in his voice.

"Matt, I think it's too late."

"Don't say that, everything is going to be fine, you're going to be fine." Matt quickly grabbed the transceiver from his pocket. "Pedro are you there, can you hear me?"

"I'm here, what's wrong?"

"Come to where I am, Richard's hurt and I need you to heal him."

"Okay we're on our way, where are you?"

"Once you get to the end of the forest you go right, that's where we are."

"Got it."

"And hurry!" Matt turned off the receiver. "The others are on their way Richard it's going to be okay."

The journalist was getting paler by the minute as he kept losing blood, Matt knew that Richard was going to die any second but there was a part of him that still kept hope. Matt felt tears coming from his eyes.

"Please don't die, Richard, I don't want to lose you too." Matt felt a hand placed on his cheek, wiping away his tears.

"You're never going to lose me, I'll always be here." Richard smiled as Matt placed a hand on top of his. "Remember when we meet and I told you that you could stay a couple of days, who would have thought those couple of days would turn into a year."

"Yeah, you've always been there for us, treated us like family."

"That's because you are my family."

Matt felt more tears forming, it was hard to believe that just a year and a few months ago he was arguing with this man for not believing him about Lesser Malling and now here he was, crying and hoping that the same man would live.

"You know what the best part about meeting you all, for the first time in so long I've been the happiest I can be."

"Me too and if anything it's because of all of you that I felt like I was part of a family." Matt smiled.

Richard's breathing started to slow down as well as his heart beat, Matt took notice as the smile quickly vanished.

"Richard? Please don't leave me."

"Matt...promise me this, no matter how bad things get remember that the others are there for you and please, never call yourself worthless because you are anything but worthless."

"I will." Tears kept falling from Matt's eyes.

"Hey, if I'm dying then let the last thing I see from you is a smile." He said as he wiped the tears away again, Matt smiled for him.

"I'm going to miss you." Matt sobbed as he hugged the journalist.

"I'm going to miss you too, all of you."

There was a noise, Matt looked to his right to see the others coming towards him, he waved to the others with his free hand.

"The others, they're here, you're going to be okay," Matt reassured, not noticing the journalist smiling.

Richard let out a tear as he closed his eyes, happy knowing that he spent the last moments of his life with his family. Matt felt Richard's hand fall from his cheek, he knew it was too late.

"No no no, please stay with us for a little while longer, please," Matt pleaded as he held on to the journalist's hand. "Please, please don't die."

"Matt!" Jamie called out.

The others got close to him but were then in shock when they saw what was in front of them.

"Oh my god," Scarlett said quietly with a horrified look on her face.

"Is he?" Scott was hesitant to ask.

"Pedro get over here quick, help!" Matt bawled.

Pedro went over to Matt and Richard quickly, he got down on his knees and tried to heal him, hoping that he wasn't too late. He put all his effort and all his strength so he could heal the man. After a while, Pedro stopped, his eyes widened and tears started to form, he looked up at Matt.

It was too late, Richard Cole was dead.

Grief struck everyone, Scarlett hid behind her hands as tears started pouring from her eyes, Scott held his brother close as tears started to form in both of the twin's eyes, Pedro cried as he clutched onto the ground beneath him, feeling sorrow, Lohan bowed his head as a sign of respect for his late friend as well as to hide the small tears forming in his eyes. Matt was frozen in place as he clung to his deceased friend, it wasn't until tears were pouring out rapidly, that he then let out a blood-curdling scream.

"RICHARD!"

So yeah, Richard died (Sorry)

But yeah, all this time Richard was the one who was suppose to die, not Matt, and you're probably asking "But didn't the Librarian said that he couldn't change fate?", well you'll have to read the next chapter to find out the answer. Now if you don't mind, I'm just going to find a place to hide, peace out!